cover feature
Instead, “what you try to do is help create
the best fit for each regional circumstance.”
CAN THERE BE A CONSISTENT
CORPORATE CULTURE?
Corporate culture is a more amorphous
thing than HR policies and there’s a va-riety
of opinions about how unified a
cross-border culture can be.
Some believe it’s vital to develop and
maintain a consistent culture across regions.
“The global HR leader in collaboration
with the top global leadership team and
with input from local leadership should
take a leading role in creating and nurtur-ing
the culture,” said D’Sa. He adds that
culture should stem from strong mission,
vision and value statements, regional dif-ferences
or considerations and that it
should apply to every company of a multi-national
organization. “It is this corporate
culture that provides a unique identity to
the multi-national corporation and differ-entiates
it from its competitors.”
Dhanji agrees to some extent, but adds
there are times when some regularity of
culture will have to be sacrificed. “To be
effective, HR pros need to be able to bal-ance
global consistency with the need to
be relevant and competitive in local mar-kets.”
In those cases, he says, an HR pro
should strive to be as consistent as pos-sible,
but allow for necessary regional
variances.
UPSIDE OF GOING GLOBAL
Flexing HR muscles across international
borders has some real benefits, both for an
organization and an individual.
“As a global HR leader, I gained in-valuable
perspective, nurtured a global
mindset, honed my influencing skills…
and became highly adaptive and agile,”
said Dhanji. His skillset became both
valued and integral to the business. “As
long as there was change anywhere in
the world, the business required part-nership
with and strategic counsel from
HR.”
D’Sa points out what a seasoned glob-al
HR pro can bring to an organization.
“Like any skilled HR professional is an in-valuable
asset to an organization, a global
HR pro who has superb understanding
and skills in operating in a global environ-ment
is an asset worth his or her weight
in gold.”
Whether or not an organization oper-ates
outside of Canada, an HR pro with
a global mindset can help spot poten-tial
opportunities and pitfalls before they
happen.
“In a market where talent is borderless,
even domestic-oriented companies may
need to source talent from international
markets when striving to acquire ‘A’ play-ers,”
said Dhanji. “Likewise, when looking
for best practices, other countries may
have already faced similar issues that can
serve as a case study.”
Whether a company operates only in
Canada or has outposts in every industrial-ized
country on the planet, understanding
the larger HR picture can be integral to fu-ture
success.
“The perspectives globally minded pro-fessionals
offer can enable us to look
through many different lenses and help
us produce an inclusive perspective, rich
in diversity and full of possibilities,” said
Dhanji. ■
HIRE A PRO.
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20 ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
